The Boston Globe Feature
After all the years (20), all the albums (15), and all the audiences (your guess is as good as ours), Ellis Paul can laugh when he remembers the all-but-empty room that barely acknowledged him when he arrived to play the legendary club CBGB in New York. As fate would have it, that happened to be the very night seven or eight major record label reps showed up to gauge the commercial potential of Paul's music. "I didn't have a following in New York, and all these label people came out and there was no one else in the crowd,'' says Paul, who grew up in northern Maine. "It was this horrifying experience, because the club was completely empty otherwise and I was sweating bullets. And of course, no one threw a record contract at us.'' Demoralizing as that moment was, it offered Paul a revelation and a strategy: "I said, you know, I'm just going to go around these people and hit the road. And I'm gonna build [an audience] tree by tree by tree until I have a fo
The Day After Everything Changed Exclusive Presale!
Pre-order "The Day After Everything Changed"!
The CD is available exclusively here, on Ellis' website, and will begin to ship October 30th.
Click here to pre-order your copy!
Hey y'all, Well its finally time, we are making the new cd, "The Day After Everything Changed" available to everyone at my website. It can only be purchased here, and at shows until January 12th 2010. Order here
Ellis Reports on Storm at Falcon Ridge
Boston Globe Article About Ellis' Fan Funded CD
Lighters down, checkbooks up A growing number of musicians are looking to fans, not record labels, to help fund their albums and tours. And giving has its perks. By James Reed Globe Staff / April 12, 2009 Ellis Paul, a veteran singer-songwriter who first made his name in New England's folk clubs in the 1990s, found himself in a disconcerting position last year. He had decided not to renew his contract with Rounder Records, his longtime label, but wanted to make a new album. With no immediate ideas for funding, Paul took a novel approach: He enlisted his fans, posting a letter on his website asking for donations. Since July they've surprised him by contributing more than $90,000 through a Framingham-based online service called Nimbit, along with checks sent in the mail. "When you're only selling 20,000 or 30,000 records, you don't really need a label," he says. "We figured we could do this in-house, but we just needed the mone
Ellis in the Washington Post & USA Today
Ellis in The Washington Post! Since his early start in Boston coffeehouses and open-mic nights, Ellis Paul has held his own in the thriving folk scene. The key? His lyrics, which are as detailed and well-conceived as poetry. Paul's lyrics don't bludgeon home the point the way most folk music does - instead they dance around the heart of the song, revealing it gracefully. Washington Post April 2, 2009 Read About What Jack Ingram Has to Say About Ellis in USA Today! Ingram has 'Big Dreams' for album Jack Ingram hasn't chosen a title for his new album, but he knows it'll come out March 17. "There's a song I haven't recorded yet called Big Dreams
